FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE - PAGE 5

By Eileen O'Grady HOUSTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - As J. Wayne Leonard retires from the ranks of U.S. electric utility executives, the former chairman of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp said he will continue to push the industry and the nation to combat climate change. Leonard, 62, retired as chairman and CEO of the electric power producer and distributor on Thursday. He has been speaking out about the dangers of global warming for years, making him something of a rarity in his industry.

* Some climate success since 2000 from better land use * Transport, power emissions seen rising 50 pct by 2050 * Region produces 11 pct of global emissions SAO PAULO, June 5 - Damage from climate change could cost Latin American and Caribbean countries $100 billion per year by 2050 if average temperatures rise 2C (3.6F) from pre-industrial levels, as is seen likely, a new report said on Tuesday. The region accounts for only 11 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is considered particularly vulnerable to impact from climate change due to its geographic location and reliance on natural resources, the report commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank said.

NEW DELHI, March 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India's high vulnerability and exposure to climate change will slow its economic growth, impact health and development, make poverty reduction more difficult and erode food security, a new report by scientists said on Monday. The latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the risks of global warming and tries to make a stronger case for governments to adopt policy on adaptation and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

By Gyles Beckford WELLINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A Pacific Island man trying to flee rising seas and environmental risks caused by global warming in his home country of Kiribati asked a New Zealand court on Wednesday to let him pursue his claim as a climate change refugee. The low-lying South Pacific island nation has a population of more than 100,000, but its average height of 2 m. (6-1/2 feet) above sea level makes it one of the countries most vulnerable to rising waters and other climate change effects.

OSLO (Reuters) - Plants help to slow climate change by emitting gases as temperatures rise that lead to the formation of a sunshade of clouds over the planet, scientists said on Sunday. The tiny sun-dimming effect could offset about one percent of warming worldwide and up to 30 percent locally such as over vast northern forests in Siberia, Canada or the Nordic nations, they wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience. While proportionally small, some scientists said the study provided further evidence of the importance of protecting forests, which help to slow climate change by absorbing greenhouse gases as they grow and to preserve wildlife.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Superbugs resistant to drugs pose a serious worldwide threat and demand a response on the same scale as efforts to combat climate change, infectious disease specialists said on Thursday. Warning that a world without effective antibiotics would be "deadly", with routine surgery, treatments for cancer and diabetes and organ transplants becoming impossible, the experts said the international response had been far too weak. "We have needed to take action against the development of antimicrobial resistance for more than 20 years.

By Thuy Ong SYDNEY, March 26 (Reuters) - A one-degree rise in temperature could spell doom for a rare Australian possum within a decade, potentially making the tiny, long-tailed marsupial the continent's first victim of climate change, researchers said. Mountain Pygmy Possums have been a part of the Australian ecosystem for more than 25 million years, but only 2,000-2,600 are believed to remain in the wilds of the Snowy Mountains, a range that extends between New South Wales and Victoria states.